Books › Being there › Books like it
If you loved
Books like Being there
A deadpan, surreal fable about a blank slate of a man upon whom the world projects its own desperate need for profundity. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Being there.
- surreal
- absurd
- quietly unsettling
- 01
Stoner
John Williams · 1965
A devastatingly beautiful portrait of an unremarkable life that will quietly break your heart and put it back together.
- 02
Ferdydurke
Witold Gombrowicz
A manic, philosophical fever dream that mercilessly mocks the social masks we are forced to wear.
- 03
Cockpit
Jerzy Kosinski
A quiet but charged exploration of the sudden, sensual shift from casual familiarity to profound intimacy.
- 04
High-rise
J. G. Ballard · 1975
A clinical, claustrophobic descent into the feral underbelly of modern luxury.
- 05
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
A sprawling, comic, and deeply philosophical romp through the neuroses of midlife, the ghosts of literary genius, and the absurdities of modern America.
- 06
Blott on the Landscape
Tom Sharpe
A riotous, escalating farce where eccentric rural traditionalists wage dirty, hilarious war against corrupt bureaucracy.
- 07
Elmer Gantry
Sinclair Lewis
A biting, cynical masterclass in American hucksterism that exposes the theatrical underbelly of organized religion.
- 08
Valley of the dolls
Jacqueline Susann · 1966
A glittering, pill-popping descent into the glamorous and ruthless underbelly of mid-century show business.
- 09
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick · 2007
A gritty, neon-lit descent into the murky waters of empathy, artificiality, and what it truly means to be human.
- 10
Elizabeth and Her German Garden
Elizabeth von Arnim · 1899
A witty, sun-dappled retreat into a private sanctuary where blooming flowers are vastly preferred over polite society.
- 11
Solaris
Stanisław Lem · 2002
A haunting, cerebral descent into the limits of human understanding and the inescapable gravity of our own memories.
- 12
Hollywood
Charles Bukowski
A booze-soaked, deadpan stumble through the glittering, absurd machinery of the film industry.
